Escuela Chilena

The past few days have been interesting. Yesterday I woke up at 7 to get ready to meet my head teacher at the school at 8am to attend a regional orientation together in Temuco. about an hour and a half away. Tatiana walked me there to find out from the principal (Director) that he had already left for Temuco. We scrambled and people helped me get on a bus (costing $3.50) by myself to get there and he was to meet me at the bus stop. This bus was comparably packed like the Chicago El on St. Patricks Day. Instead of highschoolers passing off bottles of Vodka and Gatordade, young mothers were passing their children to the bus attendant (a 16 year old Chilean) to help her get off the bus safely. It was quite the visual. Capacity: 45, there had to be at least 80 people on the bus at any given time. The sense of welcoming and closeness was made even more apparent. There was some miscommunication in finding my host teacher but we finally located eachother and went off to the Hotel Nicholas in Temuco. It was very foggy and damp yesterday. The city has a feeling of a cloud of smoke over it, similar to Galvarino but it does not seem to bother me. It resembles a welcoming bonfire. (It could also be a result of the wood burning stoves as providers of heat in the homes).

Today I went to the high school for the first time. The school (liceo) is run by the government but the students are to wear uniforms. Some do, some elect not to. Some elect not to do a lot of things. Most of the students, as my teacher warned me yesterday, are very preoccupied and uninterested. It is very active and open. The students are perched everywhere around school during the ten minute breaks between classes. Obviously looking different, I drew a lot of attention. Whistles and other ways of attempting to get my attention were made. My head teacher told me to ignore it. I introduced myself in 4 classes and the students threw all kinds of questions at me. (I pretended not to understand some of the Spanish ones). It was very tiring but I get a break from about 1 to 2:15 and living so close I walk home for lunch. The staff was very welcoming and some other professors told me they would be interested in learning English, also. I look forward to seeing how it all progresses.

Ciao for now!